JackDowd'sWritingBlog

Former child, eventual adult and practising wordsmith.

Last month I wrote two website posts on “Firsts”. They were first drafts of famous novels and first drafts of famous films which you can read by clicking on their titles. Whilst researching these articles …

There has been, and forever will be, a unique and complex relationship between writers and their fans. A writer promises to create worlds and characters for the audience to cherish and promises to maintain the …

Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice was released recently to mixed reviews. The critics loved it and hailed it as one of the greatest superhero films of this year. The fans however did not share that opinion and said it was a train wreck. I’m in between these viewpoints. Here is what I think was good about the film and what went wrong.

The British Museum is a treasure trove of inspiration for writers. There are countless artifacts housed inside and it is a wealth of knowledge for historians. Some of the artifacts are more notorious than others.

Last year I worked as an assistant in a job centre. My job was to help members of the public complete forms, edit CVs and Covering Letters and to search for jobs on line. One day I entered the computer area and saw two people waiting for assistance, a man and a woman. The man said to me,

‘Hello, I need help filling our a job application form.’

‘Okay, if you go to that computer over there and I’ll help you in a moment,’ I said pointing to a free computer.

The man nodded and sat down at the computer.

I turned to the woman, ‘and how can I help you?’

‘Well now I want a complaint form.’

‘A- a complaint form?’

‘Yeah, I’m going to put in an official complaint about you. I didn’t like the way you spoke to that man. You didn’t say please.’

It turns out that the woman was a regular in the Job Center and was constantly issuing complaints against members of staff in the hope of collecting compensation. Nothing came of her complaints but the point I’m trying to make is this, does she have the right to be offended?

Some fictional characters are so incredible and outlandish, it is difficult to believe that they are based on real people. Yet, this is the case for some of our best loved characters. Here are five famous characters and their real life inspirations.

It is said that a child raised in England should be able to speak English fluently by the time they are twelve years old. The English Language is an incredibly hard language to master but it’s by no means the hardest. According to the BBC the hardest languages to learn for a native English speaker are Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Korean with the easiest to learn being Dutch. I took French for five years at school but I can only remember three or four words. I also know a collection of swear words from other languages and a little bit of Italian I picked up while playing Assassins Creed. I am by no means a linguist.

Today is Star Wars Day (May 4) and what better time to review the latest Star Wars film Episode Seven The Force Awakens? When I saw the film in the cinema last December I was amazed and now the DVD has been released. Be warned, the review belowcontains spoilers.

Before we begin I’ve got a few technical notes. My new widget for Goodreads is now up and running which you can view at the side of my home page. Once clicked it should take you to my Goodread account where you can see what I’m currently reading, what I’ve read and my latest book review some of which will be posted on here. Secondly I have now worked out how to post gifs. There won’t be any in this post but by next week we shall have gifs galore! This post in the first of a new category called inspirations. It’s a retelling of events, locations or people I’ve experienced, visited or met that I think could provide inspiration for writers. All pictures in this post are my own. Please, read and enjoy.

Happy New year! I hope you had a successful 2015 and wish you an even better 2016. For me the two TV highlights over the Christmas and New Year Season have been Doctor Who’s The Husbands of River Song and Sherlock’s The Abominable Bride. Let’s review: Be warned Major Spoilersbelow!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is enjoying the festive season with their family and friends. We put the the Christmas tree and decorations last week so it feels like Christmas now. Some people say Christmas starts in December, other say it’s when you see the Coca Cola advert on TV, for me it’s when the decorations are up.